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Indian stowaway found in China

The authorities and crew of a Brazil-bound foreign cargo ship are in a dilemma after they discovered an Indian stowaway, who risked his life by hiding inside the ship's anchor hole.

Deenadayalan, 18, apparently hailing from Tamil Nadu, hid in the anchor hole of the ship on March 23, three days after the ship left Madras port.

The youngster who spoke fluent Tamil, claimed he was an orphan. He does not have any travel document to prove his identity or nationality.

He told Chinese immigration authorities in the northern port city of Tianjin that he was Indian and studied in a school in Trichy, Tamil Nadu.

He also told them that he wanted to go to Japan.

He worked last at the Madras port and someone there told him that the particular ship, owned by a Hong Kong-based company, was bound for Japan.

Deenadayalan had only Rs 6 on him and survived for three days inside the anchor hole on a south Indian snack.

However, when the mixture was over, he felt hungry and managed to climb up to the deck. Someone immediately alerted the crew about a stranger on the ship and he crawled back to the anchor hole.

Though the crew searched every inch of the cargo hold, they could not find him. Finally, someone went down into the anchor hole with a torch and discovered Deenadayalan.

A crew from the ship said that Deenadayalan was lucky that the ship didn't drop its anchor when he was hiding inside the anchor hole.

"If the ship had dropped its anchor, he would have surely died without even being noticed", he said.

Though the crew are treating him well, they are pressing the Chinese immigration officials in Tanjin to take care of him. The Chinese officials in turn have contacted the Indian embassy for help.

Since Deenadayalan has no passport or any identification paper with him to prove his nationality, authorities here have expressed their inability to accept him.

Based on what he told officials, the embassy is contacting the Tamil Nadu police to help identify the youngster.

"We have to verify his identity as speaking Tamil alone does not make one an Indian," a source said.

Since the ship cannot wait till a reply comes from India, the shipping company has now agreed to take Deenadayalan with them to Brazil.

By the time the ship reaches Brazil they hope Indian authorities would identify the person and hand over him to the authorities in the South American country.

Meanwhile, Deenadayalan is not wasting his time. "He sometimes prepares south Indian delicacies for us," a crew member said.

PTI

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